West End revival divides critics down the middle — and audiences love it

Bold new staging of a forgotten 1970s play earns one-star and five-star reviews in the same paper.

Few West End openings in recent memory have provoked the kind of critical civil war now raging over the revival of Howard Brenton's largely forgotten 1974 play 'Concrete Hours'.

Major reviews have ranged from one star ('a baffling, indulgent waste of three of our best actors') to five ('the bravest piece of theatre this decade').

Audiences, meanwhile, appear to have made up their minds: every performance is currently sold out, and producers have already added a six-week extension.

The director, returning to the West End after a decade in opera, has refused to engage with the negative reviews, saying only that 'theatre that everyone agrees on is theatre that has stopped trying'.

Whether the production transfers to Broadway is now reportedly under active discussion.